Lloyd Leonard, Dan Miller, and team were ready to run races. But the wind was not cooperating. After some waiting for the wind to change it mind, the decision was to wait no longer, and racing was cancelled for the day.
Looks like the wind came up briefly from the NE in the late afternoon . Look at the directions before and after.
Dane Pedersen and team ran the races. The Albacores were at Rock Hall for their nationals. I was in western Maryland where it was warm and the wind was blowing away tents at the Farmer’s market. On the river, I’m guessing it was a warm day with good wind.
With nothing but glass as far as the eye could see, Dana Howe (PRO) postponed for an hour at the dock. At noon he sent the mark boat out to look at the ripples starting to appear to the south. It was still glassy looking north. The sea breeze kicked in, boats put in, and a building southerly carried the fleet up to the race area. At 1315 boats were racing in winds steady from the south at 10 in “it don’t get any better than this” conditions. ”
Many thanks to Gonzalo helping Dana on the signal boat and to Justin and Nic for spectacular mark-boating and boat towing! Nic also took some great photos–thank you!
PRSA Sailors,
We are seeking nominations for vacant and soon-to-be vacant Executive Committee positions. Specifically, Vice Commodore and Secretary. You can read the position descriptions in Article IV of our PRSA Bylaws at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hTChVfws3VvGSUgKhIOBLU5gaqIOs2Xr/view?usp=sharing.
As an all-volunteer organization we rely on the idea that everybody steps up to take a turn at volunteering for our various positions so that we can spread these service obligations around, learn from new people in new roles, and not be reliant on the same small cast of individuals each year. Without folks willing to donate a bit of time and effort, we would not exist. Please let us know if you are interested.
The election for ExCom positions will be held at our Annual General Meeting & Awards Ceremony (November 16; precise location and time TBD))
PRSA Sailors:
Due to several unresolved maintenance issues, including the motor on the 19′ skiff (it is not pumping/spitting water) and issues with some of our other equipment, we will have to cancel racing this Sunday. I know this is disappointing, but it is also a consequence of being reliant on a very few people (who also have full regular lives and full time jobs) to keep everything up and running.
I really want to thank Nabeel Alsalam, Bob Gotthardt, and Will Phillippe for the extra time they have volunteered over the past weeks to try to diagnose and replace/repair various things. Unfortunately we’re not there yet with the motor on the 19. Hopefully we can get things repaired to resume racing on October 6 with Fall Series #4 (note: we also need a PRO for October 6).
Looking ahead, we will need some extra volunteer hands to help with equipment maintenance (including some more basic tasks such as patching marks, replacing some lines/tackle on marks, and more–we’re compiling a list). Please let us know if you can help.
Best,
Aaron
Over 40 boats across 6 different fleets participated in the 2024 PRSA President’s Cup Regatta. PRO Nelson Pemberton and his RC crew worked hard to get each class 9 races–no easy feat! We had a nice moderate southerly breeze on Saturday and then a shift, somewhat fickle easterly on Sunday (making the RC’s job even harder!). Many thanks to all of the volunteers who made the event possible as well as all of the sailors–especially those who traveled some distance to participate!
Results: https://nextsailor.com/app/scoring/view_regatta/736
We have our signature fall 2-day regatta this weekend! Make sure you are registered, and make sure that you’ve spread the word to all of your friends in area clubs/classes. We expect multiple classes, visiting boats, and 2 days of great racing!
The PRSA President’s Cup is open to one-design dinghies: Albacore, Buccaneer, Flying Scot, I-20, Laser, Lightning.
Nabeel Alsalam, Mark Rickling, Natalie Rehberger, and Jon ran the races. (Lindsay Bach got a pass when RC decided to take only one boat out due to lack of motor peeing.) The wind was east-northeast which is a challenge on the river. So they set up the windward mark at the mouth of the Anacostia and a gybe mark half the distance to Roaches run. The wind took big shifts left and right.
Nevertheless, it was a great day to be on the water and the sailors got five O-2 races (triangle, windward-leeward). The Lightnings had a hard carrying their spinnaker on the reaching legs depending on the phase of the wind but the Albacores got in some reaching fun.
Mike Heinsdorf, Dave Huber, Tim Dickson, and John Van Voorhis ran the races.
11 Albacores, 1 Buccaneer, 3 I-20s, 2 Lasers, and 4 Lightnings competed. All 5 fleets were able to compete in the first 3 races, after we started the 4th race for the Albacores the wind died so we opted to send the rest of the fleets home. The early high winds were a bit too much for the I-20s.
The first 2 races were W2, the last 2 races were W1.
We are just one week away from the start of our Fall Series! Please make sure that you are registered for the series and that you’ve signed up for RC duty, using the links provided below. In addition, we will be holding a “Running Races at PRSA” Webinar on September 5 (details below). Finally, make sure to sign up for the PRSA President’s Cup, our signature fall 2-day regatta. Keep reading for all the links and details!
Prior to the start of the Fall Series, we will hold a Running Races at PRSA Webinar on Thursday, September 5, 7:30 pm (on Zoom: https://american.zoom.us/j/99437900322?pwd=EQCvuR2F7Ml6whtDdoR2qZORelIGHb.1). No matter whether you have extensive experience running races or are just learning, this is a good opportunity to review our procedures at PRSA so that we can have safe, fast, and smooth racing each Sunday.
Fall Series#1: with hopes of good weather, we are planning on grilling out after the racing. I’ll bring some extra brats and beverages. Please make sure to bring something for your crew and feel free to invite friends and family for the post-race fun!
PRSA Fall Series: Our PRSA Fall Season starts on Sunday, September 8. Please keep the following in mind as you prepare for the series:
PRSA President’s Cup: our signature fall 2-day regatta will be held September 21-22, and registration for the President’s Cup is open! Visit https://nextsailor.com/regatta/PRSAPresidentsCup2024 to register. Mark your calendars, organize your boats and crew, and spread the word to sailors you know at other clubs! We’d love to welcome visiting boats in all of our classes for a great regatta. Many thanks to Tyler, who will be serving as Regatta Chair. Finally, if you’re interested in some President’s Cup history, check out this Regatta Program from the 1955 President’s Cup: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2wMQVqjmo-XODh0Z1NHWEVYUTQ/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-iYyMWIjUUpp4oDwrGCC7Kw (this booklet was spotted in a secondhand bookstore by Bobby Astrove’s son several years ago—a great find!).
